


Crazy Emily

by frogy



Category: You Could Make a Life Series - Taylor Fitzpatrick
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 06:53:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11143152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogy/pseuds/frogy
Summary: Five times Emily is called crazy and one time she is not putting up with that.Or, the long-spanning love story of Emily and Kiro.





	Crazy Emily

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks Shearsy for the beta (and for running this mini-bang)!
> 
> Thanks wilde_stallyn for the art!
> 
> There are a ton more notes at the end.

1\. 

Emily doesn’t remember a time before she was "Crazy Emily." 

She’s pretty sure it’s at least half the reason her parents had a third child. Everyone told them how much easier a girl would be when they found out that Greg would have a little sister. But from day one, she was not easier. 

It was certainly well established by the time she broke her arm jumping off the roof of the garage when she was in third grade. It’s not fair that she got called crazy for breaking her arm when Greg did it first and no one yelled at him for it. If he was climbing on the big kids jungle gym, she was there too. Falling off came part and parcel and she’d come home from the playground with scraped knees and the sense of victory that came with finally making it to the top.

Then middle school hit. And, well, nnd no need to change her nickname when ‘boy crazy’ was already in the popular vernacular.

But the thing is, she’s _not_ crazy.  


\---

2\. 

Emily and Kiro meet at a house party Fall semester their freshman year. 

Emily brings Kiro home for Thanksgiving that year.

It’s not crazy.

\---

Kiro and Emily take the train home for Thanksgiving.

When they get there, Emily spots Greg's car idling in the parking lot. "Drew the short straw?" she waves from across the lot. 

He doesn’t get out of the car, just waves from across the lot and pops the trunk for their stuff when they get close. Emily puts her suitcase that she wouldn’t let Kiro carry into the back, and waits for him to put his in after before slamming the trunk.

"D’you want the front?" Emily asks while they’re still standing behind the car. She maybe didn’t think this through.

That’s confirmed when Greg, who’s impatient and annoyed at being sent for her rolls down the window. He sticks his head out and asks "Crazy Emily, who’s this?"

"I told mom I was bringing a friend." 

"Kirill Volkov," Kiro says.

Greg ignores Kiro to continue questioning Emily. "A boyfriend?" He’s filled with the kind of glee that only comes from the impending shit a sibling is about to get from your parents.

"I can be friends with a boy," Emily says. She crosses her arms and glares at Greg to behave.

Kiro is looking back and forth between them. "You take the front," he says. "I go in back." Smart man. Emily doesn't want to get shit from her brother either. She has no faith her glare will work.

Emily gets in the front passenger side seat of her brother’s car and slams the door behind her. Kiro gets in the back seat with a lot less slamming. "So, what did you say your name was?" 

"Kirill," Kiro answers mildly.

"I’m Greg. Emily’s older brother." Greg looks back at him in the rear-view mirror as he pulls out of the parking lot. "Emily didn’t mention a boyfriend."

"Emily didn’t tell me she had a brother." Kiro politely ignores the dig. "Is good to meet you."

"Where’d you find this guy?" Greg asks Emily.

"School." Emily says, not giving anything away. She watches the familiar strip malls pass outside the car window. These familiar streets are home. She can’t imagine a Thanksgiving where she’s not here. And yet when Greg speaks, she thinks Kiro has the right idea, living halfway around the world from people who know how to annoy you best. 

"You know mom is going to kill you," Greg says.

"Well then, I’d like to enjoy my last few living moments without you being an asshole." Emily turns on the car radio. It’s weird. In high school she listened all the time in her car, but she walks everywhere on campus. And realizes she hasn’t listened since she’s been away.

"Geez, fine," Greg says. And then, "Hey, leave it, I like this song."

"Me too," Emily says.

They keep their conversation to the music on the radio while Greg drives them through a subdivision, pulling up in front of a split-level ranch. Greg waits while Kiro and Emily retrieve their stuff from the back of the car before cutting across the lawn ahead of them. He throws the door open, shouting out, "Hey, we’re back."

People stream into the front entrance from different directions; her mom emerges from the kitchen, Dad and grandpa from the den, a clatter of feet on the stairs must be Julie, her younger sister, the only one left at home. 

"Honey," her mom says, pulling her into a big hug. And then noticing Kiro, "who’s this?" She relinquishes Emily from the hug, instead holding her shoulders so she can study her from arm’s length.

"I told you I was bringing a friend," Emily says. "This is Krill."

"Come here, Crazy," her dad says, holding his arms out get his own hug. 

"You didn’t say you were bringing a boyfriend," her mom chastises, but let's go, so Emily can get her hug from her father.

"You know, you’re not a little girl anymore," Grandpa says. 

"Where are we going to put him?" That's mom.

"You should have told your mom," and now dad's joined in the fray, everyone criticizing Emily at once. "Your mom’s already stressing about hosting, she doesn’t need this."

"This is great," and that was Julie on the stairs.

"Boys are going to want things from such a pretty girl." And, "we can’t put a guest out." And, "I know, right, you can always count on Crazy Emily." And, "I guess you can sleep on the sofa, and he can stay in your room."

"Fine." Emily’s emphatic shout puts a stop to all the chatter. "Kiro can stay in my room, I’ll sleep on the couch. We are going to put our stuff upstairs." And true to her word, she goes, pushing past Greg and Julie. Kiro looks around at all the people staring at them, before lowering his eyes and following Emily up the stairs.

\--- 

It comes up like this. They're lounging in Kiro’s room. His roommate has a class from 2:55 to 4:05 on Thursday afternoons, and it’s a good opportunity to fuck in Kiro’s room for a change, just so long as they remember to get dressed afterwards. (They’ve definitely fucked that up before.) So Emily’s her leggings back on and commandeered a Merrimack hockey sweatshirt from the back of Kiro's desk chair.

Kiro has an away game this weekend so Emily might actually get some work done. She really should finish that paper before she goes home Wednesday for Thanksgiving. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"I’m stay here."

"You can’t say here," Emily says. That would be the worst. Thanksgiving is the best holiday. There’s the parade on TV and then (games) outside and then turkey and then _pie_.

"The dorms are open." Kiro misunderstands her objection. "Cap says it not real Thanksgiving anyway."

"Of course it’s the real Thanksgiving," Emily says, shifting around to look Kiro in the eyes. It's important he know the truth about Thanksgiving. And the truth is that Canadians are wrong.

"Okay, is real Thanksgiving," Kiro says easily. He wraps his arm around her back and pulls her against his side.

Emily goes, but she narrows her eyes as she looks up at him. His agreement came too easily. She doesn't think he understands the seriousness of this great American tradition. "It’s not that you can’t stay here. You shouldn’t. Thanksgiving is the best." 

As Emily goes on to enumerate the joys of turkey, and ham, and capture the flag, the hand Kiro had wrapped around her has worked it's way under the borrowed hoodie. If they were talking about something less important, she'd be distracted by the way his fingers teasing the underside of her breast at the top of each sweep, as he traces a path up and down her side. 

As it is, her thoughts are split between the pie she is still babbling about and whether they have time for one more round before his roommate gets back. They can be quick. And he should know by now not to come straight back after class. If he hasn't learned by now, that can't be held against Emily.

Emily throws her leg over Kiro's, rolling over so she's straddling his thigh. Just one last thing. "Come home with me. I’ll show you how good a real Thanksgiving is." 

"Okay," Kiro says, leaning up to kiss her, putting a definitive end to their Thanksgiving conversation.

So Emily tells her parents she’s bringing a friend home for Thanksgiving. Because that’s what they are.

\--- 

"Sorry," Kiro says, when they make it to Emily's room. He puts his bags down right inside the doorway and looks around without coming any further into the room.

Emily looks up at that, looks at him. "No. I’m sorry," she says. "I should have warned you." The last thing she wants is for him to be uncomfortable here. "Come in, sit down."

Kiro follows her instructions and sits down gingerly at the end of the bed. "What was everyone upset about?" Kiro asks. Emily isn't sure whether Kiro is asking to be polite or because he couldn't follow the rapid-fire, everyone talking over each other English. It doesn't make a difference either way. 

"They think you're my boyfriend." She sits down next to him, leaning back and making herself more comfortable. "I told them I was bringing a friend home for Thanksgiving. I guess they assumed my friend was a girl. They were surprised you’re a guy."

Kiro shrugs. "Okay," he says, relaxing back so he's sitting more naturally next to her.

"I'm so sorry," Emily says again. She should have told her parents, been more explicit that she was bringing a guy, but that he's not her boyfriend. She wants Kiro to have the full Thanksgiving experience, not to be constantly questioned and interrogated by her family. "It’s not okay."

"Okay then," Kiro says, putting his arm around Emily. It's second nature for her by this point to lean into him, the two of them sprawling on her bed. It would almost be nice, except for the nagging thought that all her relatives are downstairs talking about her and Kiro. "If you say it's not okay, then it’s not okay."

Emily laughs halfheartedly at him. "You have no idea what you’re talking about." It's nice that she has someone on her side.

But Kiro surprises her. "Is okay if they think I’m your boyfriend," he says. "I’m a boy. And a friend. And we have lots of sex."

Emily laughs for real at that. She can't argue against his logic. "I guess that’s okay." Then she remembers the rest of it and stops.

Kiro notices immediately. "What not okay?" Kiro asks.

Emily buries her face in his shoulder. "I’m not crazy," Emily says, even though sometimes her family makes her feel like she is. Like no matter what she does, they are going to find fault in it. "I don’t know why I’m always the problem child."

"You not crazy," Kiro says. "You're wonderful." 

And she feels better about it when he says that. She's only known him a couple of weeks, but he gets her in a way that other people don't. Maybe this dating thing will work out.

\---

3\. 

Kiro signs with Pittsburgh. 

Emily and Kiro open up their relationship.

It’s not crazy.

\--- 

It's New Year's Eve and Emily is drunk in a club with Greg and Julie and pretty much all of the cousins who could get in. 

It's tradition, not so much the club, but spending the New Year's together. They've been doing it since they were little and their parents would dump them at one house to economize on hiring a babysitter. 

The night started with everyone doing shots together. Kiro had an away game and couldn't come. So as they've splintered off Emily's been looking for a guy to kiss her at midnight. She's dancing with a promising contender. The club _can't_ even handle them right now. He's got dark hair and intense, dark eyes, and the sleeves of his button-down shirt are rolled up to show well-defined forearms. She likes the way he moves with her. And she's reminded that she hasn't got laid since before finals. She tips her head back invitingly and he takes it for the invitation it is to lean in and run his lips across down her neck in teasing, tickling kisses.

Emily is really feeling it.

"Excuse me." And then suddenly, she's not. The guy pulls away, looking over Emily's shoulder and Emily straightens, turning to look behind her.

It's Julie. "Hey, what's up?" Julie does not look amused. 

"I need you for a second," Julie says, grabbing Emily's hand and pulling her away without waiting for Emily to follow.

"I'll be right back," Emily says to the guy over her shoulder.

Julie drags Emily to the far side of the bar where the lack of bartenders mean fewer people crowding around to order a drink. "What are you doing?" Julie asks, accusingly.

"Dancing?" Emily says.

"That looked like more than dancing." Julie spits the words and Emily's not sure what she's doing wrong.

"Not yet, but hopefully," Emily says. "Do you know him or something?"

"What the big deal is?" Julie says, words like venom. "You have a boyfriend. Kiro. Or did you forget?"

"Oh," Emily says. Her friends know what's up. But it's never been high on her list to explain the details of her relationship to her little sister. They're not particularly close. And even then, it's not really anyone's business but her and Kiro's. But Julie is trying to look out for her, no matter how misdirected that concern really is. So Emily says, "It's fine. Kiro knows."

"What?" Julie's incredulous question comes out as a shriek that stands above the dull roar of the club.

"We can hook up with other people," Emily says. When Julie continues to look disbelieving, Emily continues. "We decided when he went to Pittsburgh. Because it's so far away and we never get to see each other." Emily is regretting those shots now. She has no idea if her explanation is making sense. Julie shows no sign of getting it and Emily is over shouting this conversation at a bar. "So, fine, okay," she finally peters out. Either Julie will get that she's in an open relationship or she won't, and oh, there's the term for it that was eluding her before.

"Give me your phone," Julie says.

"What?"

"Your phone, give it to me." Julie has her hand out, waiting for Emily to turn it over. She just wants out of this conversation and the fastest way out seems to be through. So she gives Julie the phone.

Julie immediately opens it and starts typing. "What are you doing?"

Julie ignores her, still typing. Emily has a bad feeling about this, and she reaches out to grab the phone back from Julie. Julie steps back easily avoiding Emily, who was excited about how hot she looked in these heels were when she put them on at the start of the night, but wouldn't mind having on shoes she was stable enough to take down Julie in now. Her phone is buzzing in Julie's hand with incoming texts, and Emily feels a sinking sense of dread at whatever Julie is doing.

But whatever Julie sees clearly answers her questions. The sneer on her face means she doesn't like that answer, but she hands the phone back to Emily. "What did you do?"

"Apparently your boyfriend doesn't care that you're slutting it up," Julie says, sneering. Emily's phone buzzes again and Julie glances down at it. "You're fucking crazy, Emily. Fucking crazy."

Emily grabs her phone back when Julie's distracted by insulting her. "Are we done with this?"

"Have better things to be doing?" Julie asks.

"Seeing as literally anything would be better than this, yes."

"Fine," Julie says and storms off. To where everyone else has been watching them. At least it's too loud for them to have overheard. Although Emily is sure that Julie is telling them all the sordid details in the worst spin possible. 

Emily's probably been standing there too long as it is, frozen and who the hell knows what everyone can see on her face. None of them get her at the best of times, and this is just about the worst. She spins on her heels heading toward the exit with determination.  


\--- 

Their open relationship isn't new. It started shortly after Kiro called her with with "I’m signing tomorrow with team."

"Celebrate with me," Kiro says. "Come to Pittsburgh." So Emily goes. One last hurrah.

They've been together two years and Emily still wants Kiro more than anyone else she's ever met. Their celebration is spending the weekend in bed, with brief interludes to forage for food.

It's Sunday morning before it really hits that this isn't a hello weekend after a summer apart. It's a goodbye one.

"It was fun while it lasted." Shit. Emily swore she wasn’t going to cry. But someone needs to say it. And if she has to be the one to say it, so be it.

"I am going to miss you." He sounds wounded, and this was not what Emily was going for. His dream is coming true. Kiro should be happy. She’s here to celebrate with him. Not ruin the best thing to ever happen to him. And there’s no way a slow, dragged out end would do anything but.

"We can be friends," Emily says. "We are friends." They’ll be friends that sleep with other people. Friends that fall in love with other people. Eventually that thought will hurt less.

"We not just friends," Kiro says, having none of Emily’s attempt to make this easier.

"But we can be."

"We don’t have to break up."

"Don’t be— Yes we do."

"Is terrible all summer, not being able to touch you."

"Six weeks is unbearable. I’m sorry, I can’t go indefinitely without—" There’s no good end to that sentence. 

It’s all the worst. Without Kiro, without sex, without being able to have fun without feeling guilty about it. Friday nights, when she goes out to happy hour in the city with the other interns or meets up with some old friends from high school for dinner or goes dancing with her Merrimack friends in the city. She feels guilty to be out having fun without him. She doesn’t want to give up her life to sit at the phone. But she doesn’t know how to live her life with him not there with her either. How much can she dance with a guy before she has to pull away and tell him she has a boyfriend. She doesn’t want to lead anyone on when she’s not going to do anything about it. But also, sometimes she doesn’t want to pull away. Doesn’t want to do nothing. When the music and alcohol of the club are thrumming through her and she wants to just have fun and maybe go home with the guy and fuck and she feels that’s when she feels the worst.

"I want to be able to have sex regularly," Emily says finally, because it's the easiest thing to confess, the one with a clear solution, a problem they can fix by breaking up, no matter how much she doesn't want to lose him. How much she is going to miss Kiro isn't something that either of them can do anything about.

"Okay," Kiro says, nonsensically. "Let's do that."

Emily has lost the thread of the conversation. She knows the script for a breakup. She has no idea what they're talking about now. "Do what?"

"Stay together but sleep with other people," he says, rolling onto his side to look at her. Emily was fine not looking at him, laying on her back, blinking back tears while she focussed on the popcorn ceiling. 

But she answers his wordless request and turns to look back at him. "We can do that?" she asks. "You won't care that I'm sleeping with other people? You won't be jealous?" Because it can't possibly be as easy as he is making it sound. 

"I want still be with you and you sleep with other people more than not with you and you sleep with other people," Kiro says. "So, we do this?"

"Yes," Emily says. Because Kiro makes it sound easy, because she wants to be with him all the time but she knows what they have goes beyond that. And so when he has a way for them to stay together, and happy it's easy to say yes.

\--- 

There's an area penned off for smokers right outside the front door that doesn't count as leaving that she can duck out into without having to stand on line again to have a bouncer stamp her hand or any of that bullshit. It's quite outside and cold on her overheated skin. Very cold. She probably should have grabbed her coat from coat check, but she wasn't really thinking about going outside, just away. Everyone else out here is puffing away at a cigarette. One of the guys out there offers her one, and she barely looks up to wave away the offer. She's clutching her phone tightly in her hand, and she just breaths, in and out, even the cloud of smoke better than the hot, humid air of the club. She looks down, un-clenches her hand and slides her phone open. Time to see what disaster Julie has wrought. She had texted Kiro. That shouldn't be a surprise. And it's not actually as bad as Emily feared. 

'Hey its Julie. Emily is hooking up with a guy at this club.'

'is he hot?'

'dont you care that shes cheating'

'not cheating we decide is ok'

'you dont care'

'no already said is okay does emily know you are texting me'

'yes'

'same thing is okay if other person says okay'

'you are as crazy as she is'

'we both not crazy'

and then

'give phone back to emily'

Emily starts typing out a message. 'Sorry about Julie, she' but then Emily doesn't know how to finish that sentence. Was Julie worried about Emily? Was she worried Emily was going to hurt Kiro? 

Emily's not sure Julie cares that much about her or Kiro. Julie probably just thought this was better drama than the latest episode of Jersey Shore. Or does thinking that make Emily the mean, catty one. Kiro has the right idea. Family would be so much easier to love from the other side of the world.

And Kiro, right. She gives up on the text and holds the button down until it just calls him.

"Hello," Kiro is breathless when he picks up, and Emily can hear the sound of a party in the background. But it's muted like Kiro scrambled away from a good time just to pick up the phone.

"Sorry if I'm pulling you away from something fun," Emily says.

Kiro ignores her apology. "You okay?" he asks. "Julie texted. You know she have your phone?"

"Yeah, I knew," she says. 

"She said you were with guy?" They don't usually talk about it. 

She's not jealous that he's sleeping with other people. She's jealous of everyone who gets to stand close enough to feel his warmth or smell his aftershave or be co-conspirator on one of his adventures. "I was, before she pulled me away to yell at me for being a slut."

"I'm sorry." It's Kiro's turn to give an unnecessary apology. 

"You know what they're like," she says because he has nothing to be sorry for. "I'm always the crazy one." He's been around for enough Thanksgivings, and Christmases, and birthdays at this point to see how it is. Not that it takes more than one family event to get the lay of the land.

"You're not crazy. They just not understand," Kiro says.

"You're sure?"

"I know," Kiro says. "Me and you, we best. And this gonna be our year."

"I love you," Emily says. Because Kiro is always on her side, no matter what. Because when she's with him it's not about taking sides or getting things right or what other people are going to think. It's about jumping in feet-first and figuring it out as they go and having fun and sex.

"I love you too."

"See you all star break."  


\---

4\. 

Emily applies to grad school.

It lets her follows Kiro to Pittsburgh and then Florida.

It's not crazy.  


\--- 

Emily doesn't tell her family she's applying to grad school. It took her five years to get through undergrad. She could have finished the lit degree in four years. It's that Russian one she picked up as a double-major that threw her timeline for a loop, because she didn't start Russian until sophomore year.

She knows it's one of those things her parents' rolled their eyes about. It's another one of those things that show just how much of a screw up she is. So she keeps quiet until she has the offer in hand. 

It's Easter weekend when it comes up. Emily didn't want to jinx it, but she finally got the funding figured out and officially accepted. So when she gets stuck in a conversation with Julie and Uncle Harvey and Aunt Ellen and Uncle Harvey asks "what are you up to these days? Any plans to get a real job and get off your parent's health insurance?" Emily can answer "Actually, I'm going to grad school in the fall."

"Oh, your mom didn't tell me," Aunt Ellen says. "Where are you going?" But before Emily can tell her about it, Aunt Ellen spots her mom across the yard and summons her over. "How come you didn't tell us Emily was going to grad school."

Her mom gives Emily a confused, murderous look. "Oh, you know, didn't want to say anything until it was a done deal."

"You should have told me. We could have studied for the GREs together," Julie says.

"You're going to to teachers college, right? Your mom told me," Aunt Ellen says.

"Yeah," Julie says, and launches into a description of the program. Emily's not sure if Julie is being intentionally helpful or just showing off, but she's happy for the conversation to move away from her.

Emily just about thinks she's gotten away with it. "Emily, come help me in the kitchen for a sec," her mom says, pulling Emily away, leaving Julie with Aunt Ellen and Uncle Harvey.

"What sort of crazy thing did you do now without telling us?" her mom asks her.

"I just accepted last weekend," Emily says. And this right here is why she didn't say anything. "I'm going to Pittsburgh in the fall."

"You hate school," mom says. "I remember when I went in for Parent-Teacher conferences and Mr. Herberts told me you hadn't handed in a single homework assignment all year. And you know what you told me?" her mom asks, but doesn't pause for an answer. "You told me school was stupid and you only went to school for your friends and cute boys."

"I was twelve when I said that," Emily says. "And Mr. Herberts was terrible."

"Sam," her mom calls out the back door, "come help in the kitchen." And her father enters the frey.

"Did you know Emily applied to grad school in the fall?" she asks him.

"What about work?" Emily is subbing as a receptionist at her dad's company while one of the full time women is out on maternity leave. Emily can't deny that a steady paycheck is nice. But being this close to her family again is killing her. Of course her parents don't see it. Her dad says, "you have a good thing here. And I've been talking to the boss about getting you a full time gig."

"Is this about Kiro?" her mom says. "You don't have to go to school more just to be with him. I'm sure you can find a job in Pit."

"Don't tell me this is about a boy," her dad says. "You haven’t lived in the same city as him for over three years."

Greg shows up. "What's this all about?"

"What if he signs somewhere else," her dad asks. That's the first legitimate concern that Emily's heard from her parents. It could happen. But she's not going to put her life on hold for a bunch of unnecessary worries, real or imaginary.

"Emily's going to grad school to be with Kiro," her mom tells Greg.

"I'm sure Emily's not that crazy," Greg says. 

"What if you’re no longer compatible. It’s going to be different than college," mom says. 

Emily ignores her mom's stupid question. Out of everything she has no doubts about Kiro. Instead she asks Greg, who's using the secret family meeting to pilfer through the fridge to get another beer. "Since when are you on my side?" 

"I mean, Kiro will be the least of your concern," Greg says. "Grad school is crazy enough on it's own. You’re going to go into so much debt."

"I knew it was too good to be true." Emily rolls her eyes. Maybe not on her side per se, but at least she agrees with him there.

"This is not up for discussion," she tells the rest of them. "I'm going. I have funding. You won't have to worry about me because I won't be here."

That could have gone better. But she guesses it could have gone worse too.  
\-- 

Going to grad school isn't a new thought. It's not like you can apply on a whim. She talks about it with her advisor before she graduates but senior year is hard enough without it. The friends she started with are all gone, graduated the year before after the traditional four years. And Kiro are up with the Penguins when they make the playoffs so she spends a good chunk of time flying back and forth to watch the games in the WAGs box, writing her thesis on the plane. 

But it's not until she's done with school that she realizes how much she misses it. Being a receptionist is boring. She misses classes, and school, and critical thinking. She worries she's going to start losing her Russian comprehension if she doesn't find a way to use it. 

She doesn't make a lot of money, but it's more than the nothing she was making in college. And her expenses are minimal. She lives at home, eats the food in her parents fridge, etc. Kiro had paid for all her flights last year, but this year she can pay for some of them herself. So she makes that trip as often as possible. She stays with him when she's there, and he picks up the tab when they go out even if they're just wandering by a shop window and she wants clothes or whatever.

Pre-season has barely started when she decides she wants to be there full time. So when Kiro is at practice, Emily goes to investigate schools in the area. Kiro is the first person she tells. They're going out for lunch after he had morning practice and Emily picks a place right by campus. 

They eat and walk around and it's just nice being together, wandering through the campus and she says "what if I were here?"

"You are here," Kiro says. He uses their joined hands to pull Emily into his side and wraps an arm around her waist to emphasize. 

Emily elbows him, fair retaliation for manhandling, before settling into his side. "I mean like, lived here, went to school here," she says gesturing around them. "I was thinking of applying to grad school."

"Yes," Kiro agrees immediately. "That is great idea. We see each other all the time if you here."

"Yeah. That's part of it," she says. It's a really nice part of it. Looking around she thinks about this being her life.

"And you like school," Kiro says. "You know more Russian fairy tales than I do and I hear them all when I was little. And know where they all come from. That what you study?"

Of course he gets it right. Kiro knows her. "Yeah."

So on the weekends she spends in Pittsburgh, her plane rides become filled with GRE studying. And when she stays in Boston, if she is out all weekend, her parents don't ask whether she's crashing with friends in the city and going to brunch or sleeping off a hangover or joining a kickball league. None of those are what she's doing anyway. She is at the library, applying to grad school.  


\--- 

Emily is good at grad school and she and Kiro are still good together. Emily isn't surprised by this, but it's still nice to be proven right.

She can’t actually live with him, because some of her funding comes from being a grad student in residence on campus. But she only needs to be there when she’s on duty, so she’s at his place half the time. 

She wouldn't mind if Orange liked her a little more though. The team is on a road trip so she's been taking care of Orange while Kiro's away. When she has to be on campus for the night she stops by to feed her, and when she doesn't have to be she says at Kiro's in the hopes of wearing Orange down.

It's not working. Orange likes her for the length of time it takes for her to operate the can opener and dump the food in her dish, at which point Orange goes back to ignoring her.

Kiro is due home tonight and Emily doesn't have to be anywhere else, so Emily says. She has to be back on campus early the next morning, so she doesn't even try to wait up for Kiro. He'll wake her up when he gets in, so she should get as much sleep as she can before he gets in.

So when she can't take how bad the undergrad essays she's grading are, she calls it a night and crawls into Kiro's bed alone, knowing she won't wake up that way.

She didn't know how right that thought would be. 

"My two favorite ladies," Kiro croons sometime later, climbing into bed still.

Emily blinks up at him in the dark, woken up as much from the movement of the bed under her as from Kiro talking. It takes her a moment to parse his words. "Huh?"

Kiro is sort of kneeling above her, hand stretched above her head. He's still in the remnants of his suit, grey wool trousers and white shirt with the top buttons undone, tie hanging loose around his neck and sleeves rolled up to show off his forearms. It's a good look. She tilts her head back to follow the path of his arm to where he's petting Orange. She's apparently curled right above her, closer than she'd ever get while Emily was awake and trying to bond. "We're not fucking with Orange in the bed."

"Okay," Kiro says, moving to pick up Orange. "You have to sleep on cat bed," Kiro tells Orange, mumbling the words into her fur. "Favorite lady and I have plans that second favorite lady can't be part of." And Emily can't help but smile at how cute the whole thing is. And hey, maybe Orange is coming around to her.  


\---

5\. 

Emily and Kiro decide to have a baby and get married.

It happens in that order. 

It’s not crazy.

\--- 

"I have news!" Emily tells her parents over Skype. They mostly talk on Skype these days. The flight from Florida and Boston isn't that long, but there's no reason to make it that often. She has her friends and Kiro and dissertation to finish here. 

She's the only one though. Greg and Julie settled in the area, and there are plenty of family events big and small that they all still get together for, sans Emily. Today's dinner that she's missing isn't really for President's Day. It's just that everyone else has a long weekend, so her parents summoned Greg and his family and Julie for family dinner. 

Emily did not fly up for it, but she's glad it's happening. It's like an easy way to tell them all in one fell swoop.

On her end it's just her and Orange sitting on the couch, Orange curled up on her lap. Emily never really bought into the 'animals know' thing before, but even with Orange warming up to her in time, Orange has never sat in her lap until recently. Orange has even been pushing Magenta, who's always liked her better, out of the way.

Kiro offered to be there with her, but she waved him off. Over time her parents have come to like him, probably more than they like her, but she hates making him be the go between for them. Her parents love her, she should take their jokes in the way they intend them. It shouldn't be a big deal. 

(Kiro has only gone as far as the kitchen, in view and earshot, in their big open-concept floor plan house.)

"Good news or bad news?" her mom asks.

"Good news," Emily says. 

"Well then," her dad chimes in laughing, "we can't ask for the bad news first, can we?"

"What is it?" Greg says.

"Come on, tell us." That's Julie.

"So first," Emily says holding her hand to the camera. Kiro did a good job picking out a ring. Emily offered to go ring shopping with him so they could get something together, but he insisted he could handle it. And he went above and beyond. Emily keeps drifting off staring at the way it sparkles.

She's doing it now, looking at the way the light glints off the round brilliant cut diamond, set into a classic gold band, while her family reacts, all of them chiming in with "Oh my god," and "Congratulations," and "It's about time," and "Holy shit that rock is huge."

"Yeah," Emily agrees. It is. And it's perfect.

Which is when her mom cuts in. "Wait, what's the other news?"

"I'm pregnant," Emily says. She moves the hand with the ring onto her stomach. It's still too early for her to be showing, but she's found herself putting her hand on her stomach, looking at herself in the mirror, imagining it. Her and Kiro being parents. 

The rapid fire questions start:

"Wait, what?"

"Really?"

"How far along are you?"

"Did this happen before or after you got engaged?"

"Did you plan this?"

"You're going to be pregnant at your wedding?"

"Slow down," Emily. "Eight weeks, so you can't tell anyone yet."

"Who else knows?" her mom asks.

"No one," Emily says. "I mean, Kiro, obviously, and the doctors here."

"And about the engagement?" her mom asks again.

"Our friends." And by that Emily means basically everyone else. The whole team and all the wives and girlfriends know, because obviously they see each other all the time. And her friends from undergrad and grad school know, because she wanted to share the good news. And they told his family.

"When did that happen?" her dad asks.

"We decided in December," Emily explains, "but I only just got the ring."

The ring is the reason she waited to tell her family. And they prove her right. "You decided to get engaged?" Julie says. "He didn't propose?" 

"And you couldn't just wait?" her mom says. Emily's not sure if her mom means for or the ring or the baby or to do it the way her mom would have wanted. But her mom's not done. "Why didn't you just wait until after you were married? People are going to talk. I thought you were growing up but you're still just as crazy as always."

\--- 

It started with holiday family skate with the Panthers. 

The first year when Emily was still living in Pittsburgh and she flew down for the occasion, no one had kids. Or well, some of the guys did, but it was the older guys, the vets. Kiro slotted in with the young guys, and it wasn't that different from when she first met his teammates at school or Pittsburgh, just a bunch of guys playing hockey hard, and then going out to party hard, having a fun, good time.

But in the last couple of years, that's changed, first one, then another and another until all of a sudden more guys had babies than not. They weren't the young ones anymore. They were becoming, well, not the old guys yet, because the real old guy's kid's were teenagers already. But they certainly weren't the young ones.

That's only made clearer when Jenn shows up along the boards with baby James in her arms. Jenn was the first of the wives and girlfriends to welcome Emily into the fold, and has become her best friend here. Emily skates right over to say hello while Kiro is still off pretending to lose at tag to a bunch of kids. 

"Oh my god, he's gotten so big," Emily says. It hasn't been that long since she's seen Jenn and James. Jenn brought him to the last away-game night at Sarah's house. But he looks bigger every time she sees them.

"Yeah," Jenn says. "He's eating like a mo-fo." 

"Just like Daddy?" Emily teases.

"Not at the moment," Jenn says. "Joe at least gets to sleep on the road. I haven't had a full night's sleep since you were born, isn't that right?" Jenn dissolves into baby talk halfway through, bouncing James up and down on her hip. "Or fu- heck, longer than that. Pregnancy was the worst. One perfect baby is enough for me."

"You're lucky James is so perfect then," Emily says.

"I know, right?" Jenn says.

Emily and Jenn are still just standing by the boards chatting and catching up when Kiro skates up, arms open making grabby hands. "Baby!"

"Hey Kiro." Jenn laughs at him. "You want to hold James?"

"Yes," Kiro says. And Jenn passes James over carefully. James looks around, blinking at suddenly not being in his mom's arms. 

Kiro is making baby talk and bouncing the baby in his arms and it's adorable.

Joe and some other guys skate over. "Hey, give me my kid," Joe says. And the guys take turns holding the baby. Kiro is a little moon eyes over it. Kind of the way he looks at Orange.

"Oh man," Jenn says to Emily. "You guys are totally next."

Emily doesn't immediately disagree. It's a thing to think about.

Later, when they are both home, sprawled on the living room couch, Emily says, "That was fun." Emily has her feet kicked up into Kiro's lap. Her feet feel weird from the skates. And Kiro is a good boyfriend, rubbing them even without a verbal prompt from Emily.

"Yeah," Kiro agrees.

"It was good to see Jenn again," Emily says, wiggling her toes in Kiro's hands.

"James was so cute," Kiro says. "Looks just like Joe."

"Would you want to do that?" she asks.

"Do what?" he says, looking up at her.

"Start a family, get married, have kids?" Emily's best thinking is done out loud, with Kiro there to talk things over with. "You think we’d be good at it?" 

"Of course, we best," he says without any hesitation. It's reassuring. Kiro isn't particularly close to his family, more a function of physical distance than anything else. Emily's family loves her, she knows. But that almost makes it worse. She wouldn't want to be anything like that to her kid. Trying to push someone into your idea of the best by telling them how wrong they are is the worst. "Let's do it."

"Okay," she says and then, scrambling to pull her feet in and sit up straight, "wait, what?"

"Let’s get married and have kids," Kiro says, repeating her earlier questions. And she honestly didn't know she wanted this until now, with the happiness and warmth blooming in her chest, because Kiro isn't it for her. People always say they know that that's it for them, as though marriage is somehow an end. But it's not. This is just the beginning. Neither of them are the type to say no. They work because they encourage each other when they want to leap. If their daughter tells them she wants to be a princess-astronaut-mermaid they're not going to tell her no or to be realistic. They're going to buy her a poofy dress and take her on trips to the Kennedy Space Center and teach her to swim. 

She sees her own thoughts reflected back at her in him. The happiness and excitement and possibilities. "I get you big ring," Kiro says. "And I get down on one knee and ask you to marry me."

"Too late. We just got engaged," Emily tells him. "You could have done that any time in the last ten years. We're gonna get married and have babies and it's going to be the best."

"I still buy you ring. It’s going to be so good. Big and sparkly. And we have big wedding. Everything the best." Kiro kisses her, and she moves back to lie on the couch, pulling Kiro down on top of her. She wants all of that, the whole promise of the rest of their lives together. She slides her hands up the back of his shirt, first just getting her hands on his skin while they kiss. Then when that's not enough, pulling his shirt up and off. It's easier to get his clothes off when he's on top of her.

"You too," Kiro says, "off." He tugs on her sweater and sits up so she has room to get naked. Kiro goes to fumble for his wallet for a condom and Emily stops him. "Let’s start now." 

\--- 

And then Kiro pops up from just off screen. "Emily tell you the good news?" he says.

"Yes, congratulations," her mom says. It's amazing how Kiro's presence puts everyone on their best behavior.

"We so happy and excited," Kiro says, sitting down next to Emily and putting his arm around her. Orange is happy for all the extra lap space to sprawl on. And suddenly everyone on the other end of the call is polite and congratulatory in a way no amount of Emily being happy or excited would have resulted in. 

They don't stay on the phone that long after, the conversation winding down now that all the big news has been shared. 

"Thank you," Emily says after they've hung up. "I should have just let you be there from the start. They're just so..." Emily trails off. She's not sure what they are. Infuriating, sure. Well meaning, sometimes. She never remembers how harshly she's going to be judged on her decisions until after they're already made. 

"Hey," Kiro says. "I know."

She sighs and rests her head on his shoulder. It's past the point where anything is going to change with her family. "They love me. Us."

"Yes," Kiro says, but the tone is non-committal. 

"They do." Emily repeats her point. She knows they do.

Kiro doesn't agree. He doesn't disagree either. Instead, he says "they upset you."

Emily isn't sure why it matters to her that he agrees or understands. They do upset her. He's right. He's been there enough to see the aftermath to know. "They're my family." 

"I don't like seeing you upset. Want you to be happy," Kiro says. "We family too."

They are. Emily and Kiro, the two cats, and soon the baby. They're family makes her so happy.  


\---

+1. 

They started planning their wedding after Max was born. But before they could get too far into it, Emily found out she was pregnant with Katerina. 

Kiro offered to scrap the whole thing and just elope in Vegas. 

Emily considered it. But her wedding didn't need to be another thing everyone was disappointed in her for. And she wanted the big dress, the party, the celebration.

In the bridal suite getting ready, she's rethinking that. 

The hair and makeup team arrived hours ago. Her hair is in curlers, makeup done, and she's trying to wrangle Kat into her outfit for the day, without blinking too hard or moving her mouth too much because she doesn't want to smudge anything. Julie is in the makeup chair now, and Jenn is in a cloud of hairspray getting her hair done.

At the very least she should have said no to keeping her and Kiro apart. She could use a second set of hands. Her mom doesn't count. Her mom is more of a hindrance than a help.

Emily gets Kat into her outfit, just as Jenn is finished with hair. Perfect. It's her turn

"What are you wearing, sweety?" her mom asks Kat, bending over so she's at Kat's level.

"Green!" Kat says.

Emily's pretty sure her mom is more concerned by the pants and tutu combo than the color. But Kat saw what Max was wearing and wanted the same thing. "And tutu!" 

Kiro and Emily encourage Max and Kat to be their own people. And one of the ways they do that is by letting them pick their own clothing.

Plus, in this case, Kat is absolutely adorable in a tiny green sports-coat and leggings, white ruffly shirt, and sparkly white tutu over it. Green is Kat's favorite color and they make so few little girl's things in it, that when Kat saw it as an option in the store she refused to get anything else. 

"Did Mommy let you wear that?" her mom says

"Spin!" Kat shouts, giggling as she shows just how great the tutu is for twirling.

"You're two crazy peas in a pod, huh sweetie," her mom says.

"Crazy!" Kat shouts, laughing and twirling, too young for it to mean anything to her. 

It means something to Emily. "Kat," Emily says, harsher than she means to. "Come here."

Kat comes running over, weaving between the chaos of the bridal suit.

"Why don't you go find Max and Daddy?" Emily says. "Can you do that?"

"Yes!" Kat says. 

"I'll walk her down to where the guys are," Jenn offers, "check in on Joe and James."

"Thanks," Emily says, waiting for the door to close behind them before Emily rounds on her mother.

"What?" her mom says, palms out in a 'who me?' gesture.

But Emily isn't buying it. "Don't you ever call my daughter crazy."

"Oh Emily, you know it doesn't mean anything," her mom says.

"I don't care what you mean." Emily waves her finger at her mom. She's over caring what her mom has to say about her. She's a grown up. She has Kiro and Max and Kat and a whole life here. But no one is going to ever make Katerina think she's anything less than perfect. "You're never going to do it again."

"It's just a joke, you don't need to take it so seriously," her mom says, stepping back, on the defensive.

"I know you've been calling me crazy since before I can remember," Emily says. She's dimly aware that the bridal suit has gone silent around her, but this is her day and there are things more important than keeping the peace. "If you want to have a relationship with your grandkids, that is the first and last time you will ever do that to them."

"It's not a big deal."

"It's a big deal, and it stops now." This is the hill she will die on.

Her mom must see something of that in Emily, that she's not going to give in this time. "Fine, whatever," her mom huffs. 

It's not quite conceding, but it's the closest Emily's ever gotten. And so Emily takes it changing the topic. "Why don't you go see if Greg and Katie got in okay?"

Her mom goes, taking Emily's suggestion, and Emily realizes everyone was watching that. "So," she says, trying to smile it off, "I think I'm ready for hair?"

"Of course, come sit down," the hair person says. Emily wonders where this ranks in all the family drama's she's witnessed. She doesn't let on that it's at all weird, and Emily is grateful for it as she sits down and lets the woman start unwinding the rollers from where her hair's been setting.

"You're right," Julie says from off to the side.

"Huh?" Emily doesn't think she's ever heard that one from Julie.

"Stopping mom," Julie says. "They were always the hardest on you. We-- I-- we gave you so much shit you didn't deserve."

Emily turns to look at Julie, mumbling, "sorry," to the hair person as she feels her hair being pulled out of place. Julie is at the makeup chair, blinking rapidly at Emily.

"Don't cry," Emily says. "You're going to mess up your makeup."

"It's okay, I can fix it," the makeup person says.

"No," Emily says. "If you cry, I'm going to cry, and I can't cry yet."

"Okay," Julie says. "No crying." And somehow the universe listens to Emily and there are no tears in the bridal suit.

\---

Their freshman year starts with an Indian Summer, the unseasonably nice weather carrying through Halloween in Massachusetts. But it's officially ticked into November and the last few nights have been crisp, showing signs of the winter to come. Emily is toughing it out in her Abercrombie mini-skirt for tonight's party, but Karen and Sarah, the two girls who have the room next door to her and who have been her de-facto best friends since freshman orientation, have opted for jeans and they might be onto something.

They're checking out a party at the hockey house. They haven’t been to a party there before, but a guy in Sarah’s intro psych class was talking it up and their usual haunts don't have any parties happening this weekend.

They enter into a foyer that is fancier than any place inhabited by college boys warrants, and are greeted by a hot, blond guy. "Hello," he says in an unplaceable accent. 

"Hi," they answer.

"Coats go there," he says pointing to an already overstuffed closet under the grand staircase. The grand staircase is wrapped in yellow caution tape. "Party down there," the guy says pointing to a doorway through which is a much less grand set of stairs, the walls of the stairwell covered in dark, 70’s style wood paneling.

"You up here to enforce the ‘Do Not Cross’?" Emily asks as she tries to shove her coat onto the same hanger as Karen and Sarah’s coats so they’ll be able to find them at the end of the night.

"Yes," the guy says. "And to say ‘hi’ to pretty girls." She bet that line works well for him. It's working on her. He's got shaggy, dirty-blond hair, and a quick smile that feels like it's just for her.

"Come say ‘hi’ again later if they let you downstairs," Emily says, looking back over her shoulder as she makes her way downstairs. 

Downstairs, Emily thinks maybe she needs to adjust her expectations of hockey players. Because the guy upstairs seemed big to her 5’3" in heels, but the guy they have stationed by the keg is a freaking giant. A friendly one, who hands over three full solo cups to them. 

They make a circuit of the basement, starting with the dance floor right past the kegs, and around to the back room with an impressive beer pong set up, tables lined up all the way down the room. They must have speakers rigged up through the whole floor because the music is almost as loud back here as it was up front. And when Justin Timberlake starts singing about bringing sexy back, Emily makes the executive decision to drag them all back to the dance floor. This song is her jam.

The music is good and the beer is plentiful, Karen nominating herself to go chat up the keg giant every time any of them need a refill. 

A few drinks later, Karen has stopped making the return trip from getting them drinks, staying to talk with the giant. Sarah has found the guy from her psych class, and Emily is beginning to feel like a third wheel here. There’s no one down here she’s that interested in. So she leans in Sarah to shout over the music, "I’m going to go look for the hot door guy."

"Have fun," Sarah shouts back.

Emily takes her beer and goes back upstairs. 

It’s like a different world in the foyer, brighter and quieter and cooler away from the dark, hot, sweaty dance floor. And just the guy she’s looking for is sitting on the steps on the forbidden side of the caution tape.

"Hey," Emily says.

"Leaving already?" the guy asks. He must have seen everyone who came through the door tonight, but there’s a look in his eyes like he remembers her.

"No," Emily says, drifting over towards him. "Just looking for you. Are you going to be stuck here all night?"

"Supposed to be," he says. "Sorry. Would rather be with you."

That sucks. He’s just as hot on second look as she remembered, tall enough to feel big next to her but not so big she feels uncomfortable next to him. His biceps fill out the sleeves of his black polo shirt and trail into nice forearms. He looks like an athlete, and in the hockey house, she assumes he's a hockey player. She wants to dance with him, wants to drag him downstairs in the dim light and pretend they’re only grinding on each other because of how crowded the dance floor is. But it’s not actually as quiet up here as she first thought, her ears ringing in comparison to downstairs pounding bass. Now that she’s adjusted she can hear Outcast filtering up, entreating her to lend them some sugar. 

"We can dance up here?" she says. "Come on, shake it like a polaroid picture," and she shimmies her shoulders a little.

"Yes." He gets up, ducking under the caution tape to join her. He doesn’t do the typical guy thing, shuffling and swaying half-heartedly. He throws himself into shaking it with his whole body. Not to be outdone, she picks up her shaking, swiveling her hips and waving her arms. His smile, a small, pleased thing which makes her think he's a generally happy person, gets turned up to 11, taking over his whole face, skin crinkling around his startlingly blue eyes.

They flail dance through the whole rest song, shaking it for all they have. When it ends, and he stops his shaking but not his smiling, and says "what is polaroid?"

"It’s one of those instant photos," Emily says.

"Why you shake photos?" he asks

"I don’t know," Emily says, and then because she realizes she hasn’t introduced herself yet, "I’m Emily."

"Kirill Volkov," they guy says, offering his hand.

Emily takes his hand. "Kirill," Emily repeats, pretty sure she’s not pronouncing that right. Instead of shaking it, he lifts them up to his lips, dusting a kiss across the back of her hand like some sort of gentleman.

"You can call me Kiro," he says. 

"Kiro," she says. That rolls off her tongue a lot easier. He still hasn't let go of her hand. She hopes he's not going to be too much of a gentleman. "Okay."

"Do we shake to this song too?" Kiro asks. And Emily takes a second to listen to the muffled music from downstairs.

"No," Emily says, starting to sway her hips in time to the music. "We dance to this one. Come here."

Kiro steps closer to her. He’s a good dancer, easily following her lead. There’s no awkward bumping into each other or tripping over their feet as they get in sync.

Kiro moves in time to her dancing. She feels warm all along her front, his body heat emanating between them, a contrast to the cool air around them and she becomes hyper-focused on the space where they are almost but not quite touching. Their eye contact is electric, a physical thing in the absence of anything more. She's buzzing with the feeling between them, thrumming with how she wants him. She grinds forward, silent permission for him to go ahead, put his hands on her, do something about this heat pooling low. But he follows her lead, dances up against her in kind, but no further.

One song bleeds into the next, suspended in this moment where everything narrows to the movement of their bodies.

Which is why Emily loses track of the beer she’s holding on to tilting just too much, spilling mostly on her own hand.

"Oops." She steps back, to lick the beer off her fingers. It's only partially for show.

"Give me," Kiro says, and Emily hands over the beer. "Can’t spill in the nice part of the house." Kiro takes care of the beer by chugging it. He throws the empty cup towards the trash can. He misses and shrugs. Emily giggles at his hang-dog expression. He goes to retrieve the cup and throw it away. Emily leans against the wall, suddenly feeling the beers she downed downstairs. She’s flushed from the drinking and the dancing and the guy.

"More dance?" Kiro returns.

"Yeah," Emily says. But she’s done with his nice-guy routine. She reaches up and puts her now free hands on his shoulders, pulling him close. Kiro comes, one hand landing on the wall beside her head, the other finding her waist, hot on the strip of skin exposed between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her skirt.

"More than dance?" Kiro asks.

"Yeah," Emily repeats. "Please." 

That's the magic word, because he ducks down. Emily tilts her head up, ready. His breath ghosts over her lips for just a moment before they are touching, meeting in a kiss.

There’s nothing hesitant now that they’ve started. Kiro is a good kisser, and she opens up eager for more. Kiro nibbles at her lower lip and sucks it into his mouth. The beat of the music sets the rhythm for them. Their movement is pounding in her pulse, as she thrusts up in time to it. His hand has moved from her side around to her back, sliding under her shirt, moving them in time, and the heat of it feels like a brand.

Emily wants more, and she hitches her leg up around his. Kiro takes the invitation, pushing her back against the wall more firmly, hand sliding up her thigh so she's got one leg hitched up around his waist. The skin-on-skin contact is maddening, so close to where she wants to feel his fingers. She’s barely standing anymore, pressed between Kiro and the wall like this, and it’s easy to trust them to hold her when she abandons supporting her own weight in exchange for focussing on grinding up into him.

It’s a full body shock when Kiro sets her down and steps away. "Not here," he says, responding to Emily’s unconscious murmurs of ‘yes,’ and ‘more.’ And as the fog clears and she realizes where they are, how high her skirt has been rucked up, and it’s not a long skirt to begin with, and she nods her agreement. 

"Come on," he says, holding up the caution tape blocking the stairs.

"I thought we’re not supposed to go upstairs," she says dumbly, but it doesn’t stop her from ducking under and following him up.

"With me, is okay," he says.

Kiro leads her to a bedroom on the second floor. He skips the overhead light, instead clicking on the desk lamp, casting the room in a soft glow. There’s a lofted bed with a desk under it, but Kiro sits down on the futon across the room from it, pulling her down with him.

Emily settles straddling Kiro’s lap. She’s got the upper hand, taller than him up on her knees like this, and she wastes no time in leaning down to kiss him deep and desperate. Kiro grabs her thighs again, sliding his hands up under her skirt and Emily whines her encouragement into his mouth. But he only goes so far as to run his fingers along the outside of her underwear.

The tease is infuriating.

"Can I?" Kiro asks.

"Yes. Please." Emily is already wet and ready for more.

Her skirt is pushed up around her waist and with that, he pulls her underwear down to mid-thigh. He runs his fingers along her folds. And god, enough already.

"Come on," Emily pants. "Put them in me already."

Kiro takes direction well, and he two fingers into her. He gets a thumb on her clit and starts rocking his hand so he’s thrusting his fingers and rubbing at her clit in a smooth rhythm. 

She’s so ready to go it’s not going to take much. They’re not really kissing anymore, Emily too far gone for more than breathing roughly against his mouth while her hands tug on the hair at the back of his head.

She shakes apart his hand, clenching down on his fingers. When she’s done shivering through the aftershocks he moves his hand so she can collapse forward into his lap.

"Give me a sec," she mumbles into his chest, "I’ll get you."

"Okay." He doesn’t sound too concerned about when he’ll get to come. And he doesn’t seem bothered by the rag doll impression she’s doing against him right now either. He just reaches over to grab a tissue from the box on top of the mini-fridge next to the futon and wipes off his hand. "Was good, right?"

"So good," Emily says. She picked well with him. 

She gets off of Kiro’s lap, standing and letting the underwear that was around her thighs drop down her legs and onto the floor. She does push her skirt back down though, going commando beneath it as she sinks to her knees between Kiro’s legs. She undoes the fly on his jeans, and the two of them work together to wrestle the jeans and his boxers down to his knees. Emily gives Kiro a blowjob. No fancy tricks, just her mouth and hand moving hot and wet in tandem on his dick. His hands are on her head, not pulling, just running through her hair, and it’s only fair. 

He comes. Emily spits into a tissue.

"So good," Kiro echoes Emily’s earlier assessment. She climbs back onto the futon, settling next to him. They just sit for a moment. It’s far enough away from the party up here that the only sound is their echoing breaths, slowly quieting. Until Kiro speaks up again. "I should go back downstairs. Don’t want to get yelled at."

Hmm. Emily was already settling in, idly thinking about round two. The words could be a brush off, but he sounds sorry about it. He gets up and does up his pants, but his eyes keep wandering back to her. It’s not a look of someone who’s done with this so Emily takes her chances. She sprawls sideways, kicks out her bare legs along the length of the futon. "I can wait up here for you, maybe take a nap."

Kiro is definitely apologetic when he says, "this isn’t my room."

"It’s not?" Emily sits up and looks around. There’s nothing distinguishing in the room, it’s generic college town comes-with-the-rental furniture, piles of textbooks and papers on the desk, one of those posters of a woman in her underwear hanging behind one of those many-armed bendy floor lamps.

"No. I’m freshman," Kiro says. "Live in dorm."

"Me too." Emily says before mentally filling in the rest of that sentence. He can’t take people back to his room because he probably has a roommate. She didn't realize that she lucked out when the housing lottery put her in the all-girls dorm, but it's pretty much the only place freshman get singles. "You’re worried about getting yelled at for leaving the door unwatched but not about doing this in someone else’s room?"

"If we hurry, no one find out," Kiro offers her a hand, as much a sign to hurry up as it is to help her. She takes it anyway and lets him pull her up.

Emily picks up her panties from the floor and spends half a second thinking about just putting them in her pocket, but she doesn’t want to pull a Lindsay Lohan so she puts them back on, pulling her skirt down over them. She runs a hand through her hair, but she’s pretty sure there’s no way to make it look any less like someone was holding on without a mirror and this room appears not to have one. Boys. She hopes for whoever’s room this is they don’t have a girlfriend who has to put up with that shit. 

When she gives up trying to straighten herself out Kiro is still there waiting to leave with her, hand in hand.

Her hope that they don’t run into anyone on the way down is short lived. There’s a new guy lounging on the stairs when they emerge.

"Busted," the guy says looking up at them.

"Oops." Kiro gives him an exaggerated shrug.

"How’d you even meet her?" the guy says pointing up Emily, giving her a once over. Emily’s pretty sure he can’t actually see up her skirt from where he’s sitting below them on the stairs, but she’s glad she put her panties on just in case. "We stationed you outside the party for a reason."

"Front door. I meet everyone who comes to the party," Kiro says.

"Well if you’re back now, I’m going back to the party," he says.

"We just leaving. Go back to dorms for more," Kiro says, turning to look questioningly at Emily as he says it.

She nods. If they’re caught out anyways, she may as well get the most from it. That just whet her appetite.

"Motherfucker," the guy says.

"Just your mother," Kiro answers cheerfully as they pass him on the stairs and duck back under the caution tape. 

Emily steps out of his reach to grab her coat and slip it on. "I hate you," the guy on the stairs tells Kiro.

"Don’t worry," Kiro says. "I pay all my fines. Buy plenty of beer for next party." Kiro puts a hand on the small of Emily’s back when she comes back within arms reach. "Maybe even Russian vodka." And with that parting shot they leave.

"Fines?" Emily asks. It’s gone from crisp to cold, so Emily’s grateful for the warmth of Kiro next to her.  
"For breaking hockey team rules," he says. He notices her huddling in and puts his arm around her shoulders. "Like leaving party post to hook up."

"Oh," Emily says. "You do this a lot?" Kiro shrugs. "That’s not an answer."

"I pay extra fines for not talking about it," he says. 

"What?" It's kind of annoying that he won't answer her question, but also kind of nice to know that he's not going to run his mouth about whatever they get up to. She likes that.

"I can afford it. I’m going to play in NHL." That’s not what Emily meant at all.

"Really?" Emily would assume that’s an exaggerated lie to get her to bed. But he should realize he doesn’t need to lie at this point. 

"Hopefully," Kiro shrugs again. "Was drafted by Pittsburgh, but they already winning so don't need little rookie now. So play in college and hope I get bigger." 

Kiro seems plenty tall from where Emily's vantage point, looking up at him from up close. "You seem big to me."

"That's what she said," Kiro says. "Best American saying."

Emily rolls her eyes and nudges his side. "You should hope that's what she says, otherwise it doesn't bode well for the rest of our night."

"Is fine," Kiro says. "I also good with mouth."

"Is that so?" Emily challenges. 

"I best," Kiro says.

Emily's not sure why Kiro's bragging isn't obnoxious. Maybe it has something to do with his smile, the way it invites her to be part of it. It doesn't feel like he's telling her, it feels like he's asking to let him prove it. And Emily never met a dare she didn't take, never came across a tree she didn't want to climb and then jump out of, just to say she did.

Or maybe it's the way that his arm has slid down from her shoulders so that his hand can explore her waist, or the way her's is wrapped around his so she could get closer. Or the way his words are voiced low, and rumbly. Or the way they're walking has gotten slower, more meandering, making forward progress less important than getting closer, touching more, until they stop altogether to kiss again, and again, until they're standing there making out on the pedestrian road through campus.

When Kiro pulls back, Emily blinks up at him. "You ready to put your money where your mouth is?"

"I ready to put my mouth anywhere," he says. "Where we going?"

Emily looks around and realizes they're at the quad already. "This way," she says, leading him down the path on the right.

Emily learns that Kiro wasn't wrong about his mouth. If she insists after a blowjob, most guys are willing to go down on her. But it doesn't take any cajoling with Kiro. The hardest part is that they have to stop kissing long enough to get out of their clothes. Emily's not good at delaying gratification, not even when it's to let go long enough to get naked when they can just stay here, making out against her door, touching hands and bodies and mouths. 

He has to be the one to pull away, start pulling off his shirt, and shoes and jeans to prompt her into action. He's so hard, and Emily won't give him too much shit if he wants to skip oral and go right to fucking. She doesn't like waiting either. He must be joking when lies down on her bed on his back and says "you sit on my face now."

"Um," she says. She feels really naked in his gaze. It's different to be looked at from across the room than it is when you're too close doing to really see. "Okay."

Emily walks over and kneels on the bed next to him. The mattress shifts unsteadily under her. "Need to defend my honor," he says. She's glad he's talking, making jokes. It makes her feel less like he's just watching her as she swings one leg over him so she's straddling his face. She grabs a hold of the utilitarian wooden headboard to steady herself. Kiro wraps his arms up around her thighs to pull her down. She goes slowly, carefully, until just enough, for him to be able to stick his tongue out and lick.

"Oh," she jerks up, looks down, shocked by the first contact. Kiro's head is strained up, reaching for her. She takes a fortifying breath and sinks down again. She doesn't startle again when they connect. 

Kiro is proving himself as good as he claimed, eyes closed in concentration as he really gets into her with his tongue exploring all over from her clit to her hole and back again, stopping to repeat anything that makes her moan or shake in his hands. And as she relaxes further down onto his face, he keeps at it, adding his lips to the mix, really getting into her. His murmurs of pleasure vibrating through her joining the wet sounds of his mouth and the groans from hers.

By the time she's close he's stopped playing, has let her take control, hands pulling her down and encouragement to take what she needs from him. She comes like that grinding her clit into his mouth, shaking in pleasure.

It's a good thing he's holding her because her legs are spaghetti. Even with him supporting her weight, it's an ungainly flop that moves onto the bed next to him, as she breaths heavily and comes down.

Emily rolls over to look at Kiro. The whole bottom of his face is wet and he's smiling at her. "Told you I good."

She smiles back at him. "Give me a sec and we can fuck," she says.

"You sure?" he asks. She understands why he asked. She's sprawled like a well-used lump. And she could go to sleep now, and it would be well satisfied sleep.

But he's still hard, impressing, surprisingly so, because guys in general aren't good at waiting, and she's not really ready for this to end. "What? You don't think you can get me off again?"

"Of course I can," Kiro says.

"Then get a condom," Emily says, finally getting enough motor control back to kick Kiro into action, and to roll into a more deliberate sprawl.

He goes. He gets her off a third time before they fall asleep. And then again in the morning. And then again after they get dining hall brunch. It sets a precedent. 

They still have classes and Kiro still has hockey practice, and then games, of which Emily even attends a few. And in between they hook up a lot. Emily can’t get enough. They go to the dining hall for dinner and to the library to write papers. They hook up in the stacks. That one is Kiro's idea. 

Emily gets to know that Kiro is fun and spontaneous and up for anything and is honest and trustworthy. She was sure that his line about not talking about it was just a line. She definitely told Sarah and Karen about him because a college guy who is going to get you off first is something to brag about. But she felt bad when she went to their next house party and it became clear Kiro had kept his mouth shut.

She learns that Kiro is from Russia and that one-on-one Kiro’s English is pretty good, but he gets lost in big groups. He’s not embarrassed by his mistakes, is pretty shameless overall, willing to throw himself wholeheartedly into things. He takes direction well (both in and out of bed), follows her lead, except when she's following his.

Emily learns that Kiro really was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins and so he probably will play for the NHL. She learns that he actually is pretty short for a hockey player and that if he were drafted by a worse team he might be playing for them right now. But Pittsburgh is so good right now there’s no room on the roster for him. So he plays here. Emily is a little bit happy for that, even if it means Kiro’s dream is delayed, because there’s no way she ever would have met him if he were in Pittsburgh and she’s having the best, most consistent sex of her life with him. 

And in between all the sex, they’d become friends.

\---

Their wedding day is a whirlwind. Everyone told her to take her time to enjoy it, but there's too much happening at all times. 

Jake shows up with Kat on his shoulders before they're about to line up for the ceremony. "Someone was looking for mom," Jake says.

"What's she doing all the way up there?" Emily asks

"She also wanted to be tall," Jake says.

"Tall!" Kat says.

"Thanks for bringing her back. I've got her from here if you want to go find a seat," Emily says.

It's but a moment until she's encouraging Max and Kat down the aisle. Then there's all the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

And then it's her turn, walking down to where Kiro is waiting. His vows talk about being teenagers when they met and for a moment Emily has no idea how she got here. How she got from a party first semester freshman year where she looked at this guy and knew immediately she was sleeping with him that night, to now. How terrifying it is to think her whole life is based on that one circumstantial meeting.

And then, just like that, it's over and it's on to the party. Which is a non-stop dance party. 

Until the DJ stops the music for a second for an announcement. "I have a special song coming up. And it's special because I got two phone calls asking for it. One from Kirill as a surprise for Emily. And, I bet you know where this story is going, because the other was from Emily to surprise Kirill. So I take you all back to their freshman year with one of the 2000's finest."

It's Hey Ya.

They shake it like all the polaroid pictures.

The dancing carries into the afterparty and it's not technically their wedding day by the time they get back to their hotel room. 

Emily can't get out of the dress on her own, so it's up to Kiro to fumble with the buttons that took a whole team of bridesmaids to do up at the start of the day. 

"Hurry up," she says, shrugging her shoulders back, trying to release the tension on the buttons to help Kiro out. "Tired."

"I'm trying." He leans forward to drop a kiss on the back of her neck. "We married now." He's not taking getting out of their clothes seriously enough. 

"It's sleep time now." Her alarm rang almost twenty hours ago to wake up and start getting ready for the hair and makeup people. It's amazing she's not asleep where she stands. She's not sure she isn't, because the next thing she realizes is that Kiro seems to have figured out the buttons and has made it to the small of her back. She picks up where she zoned out. "We can have married sex when we wake up."

"We can have married sex forever," he says, a sly, conspiratorial grin stealing across his face. "We married forever."

"Forever is a lot of sex. You think you're up for it?" Emily can't help but challenge, even though she's not up for it at the moment. She could be if she had to.

But Kiro doesn't hold her to it. "Let's go to sleep," Kiro says. "When we wake up we can get started."

\---

END

**Author's Note:**

> I signed up for the YCMAL Mini-bang specifically to force myself to finish this fic. And I needed the pressure of an external deadline to get through it. Usually I just want to write about all my favorite characters being happy. But that's not where this started at all.
> 
> This grew out of the idea that if Kiro is getting shit for being a manwhore, Emily has to be getting it a million times worse, because when in doubt it's always the woman who's going to be slut-shamed. I wanted to explore what sort of 19/20 year old girl would decide that an open relationship is a good idea, not just because she's going along with what her bf wants one, but because she wants it herself. And then what sort of person is she that when she starts getting shit for it, she doesn't back out and find someone who's easier to be with, but stands up to people and defends the choices she and her partner made, no matter how unconventional.
> 
> Then, what sort of woman must Emily be to be a good match for Kiro? We mostly know Kiro as the comic relief to David's straight-man. And I love the Kiro-David friendship. But I really didn't want Emily to be another quiet, serious person who Kiro would constantly cajole into lightening up. I wanted an Emily who's an equal partner to Kiro. I wanted an Emily who would give as good as she gets, who brings half of the ideas for shenanigans to the table.
> 
> The first scene I wrote (and the one I like best) is when Emily and Kiro meet. It's 2007, which was a sad, in-between year for both house-party music and fashion. When they meet Emily’s more or less wearing [this shirt](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/05/70/d8/0570d8f747262db06aef7f439ccb4c3f.jpg) and [this skirt](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ac/6a/fa/ac6afa4ad7ca425b6c43d3345e4dcc43.jpg) and the effect is [very Mean Girls](http://letsrestycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/lindsay_lohan_mean_girls.jpg). By that spring semester, the hottest house-party jam will be 'the boots with the fur' but that's still two months from being released here.
> 
> At the club on New Years, Emily is wearing what looks like a Herve Keger bandage dress. (Undecided if it's real or knock-off.)
> 
> The ring Kiro eventually buys Emily is similar to [this real life hockey fiancee’s ring](http://nullrefer.com/?https://www.instagram.com/p/BNhUrhHgBDV/?taken-by=ryannehaileyb). 
> 
> For Emily's wedding dress, think the top portion of the [Ball Gown here](http://cupofjo.com/2017/01/anna-speckhart-wedding-dress-lovely-bride/#more-113870) but with buttons added to the back, but the bottom is a little lackluster, so maybe it has layers like [on this dress](https://www.instagram.com/p/BPswMLngU_m/?taken-by=csiriano) (I know this would make the dress structurally unsound and that the ruffles need the corset bodice to support their weight, but as this is fiction, let's just go with it).
> 
> I have a lot of opinions about clothing.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [YCMAL Mini Bang Art for Crazy Emily by frogy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135547) by [wilde_stallyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilde_stallyn/pseuds/wilde_stallyn)




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